move with my own brigade to some point or points in South Carolina where forage can be obtained. I believe there is no U. S. cavalry in that State. I would use one regiment to guard the fords and ferries of the Savannah River from Rabun Gap to Petersburg pontoon bridge for the purpose of arresting straggling parties od disbanded officers and soldiers who are going home, or to the Trans-Mississippi Department, with amrs in their hands and without paroles. If any of our troops be at Augusta they could do the same thing from Petersburg southward. I would recommend that Colonel kirk be directed to blockade effectually all the gaps in the Blue Ridge from Rabun Gap eastward to Swannanoa Gap, and that he then be recall to East Tennessee to prevent his men from pillaging and commuting excesses, now that hostilities have ceased. There is evidently no further necessity for General Tillson's infantry remaining in the mountains. He requested me to send word whether there was or not. I have communicated directly with him, but send this by way of Dalton, which is the nearest railroad point. The reason I recommend that Brown's and Miller's brigade be immediately recalled to East Tennessee is because their officers for the most part have lost all control over their men. A large number of the men and some of the officers devote themselves exclusively to pillaging and destroying property. General Brown appears to have given them carte blanche in South Carolina, and they are now so entirely destitute of discipline that it cannot be restored in the field and while the command is living on the country.

I am, major, your obedient servant,

WM. J. PALMER,

Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General, Commanding Division.

Major BASCOM,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Headquarters General Stoneman.

HDQRS. CAVALRY DIV., DIST. OF EAST TENNESSEE,
Howell's Ford, near Warsaw, on the Chattahoochee, May 12, 1865 - 5 p. m.

MAJOR: After my last dispatch to you from Athens via Ashville, I got reliable information from a scout, disguised as a Confederate soldier, who stated positively that he had travelled with him for a day, that Davis was one mile and a half from Willis' Ferry, on the Ocone River, a short distance above the mouth of the Appalachee, moving westward. This was at 4 'clock on the morning of the 7th instant. The scout left him at that point to report to me at Athens, and, on the way, eight miles northwest of where he had left Davis' party, near Salem, he states that he met General Bragg with about 100 men, most of whom were without arms, and five wagons. He traveled with Bragg some distance toward Furlow's Bridge, over the Appalachee, and then came to Athens. A detachment of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry sent in pursuit succeeded in capturing General Bragg below Concord, west of Monticello, on the night of the 9th instant, with his wife, 3 staff officers, 1 ambulances, and 3 wagons. There was no specie in the wagons, but an assortment of provisions, horse equipments, papers, wines, &c. the lieutenant, in violation of orders, paroled Bragg to report to General Wilson, at Macon, he stating that he was not trying to escape, but was simply going to his home in Alabam. He had, however, passed around a detachment of my command at Madison, and had evaded another